Updated homemade ball polisher - With dividers

xianmacx · Oct 17, 2009

Hey Guys,

So I added to the ever evolving bucket ball polisher that everyone has been making. The only downside seemed to be keeping the balls from touching while polishing. I created a very simple divider that works awesome. It stays perfectly in place and keeps all the balls seperate and spinning in all directions. All I did was cut 8 strips of carpet and glued the ends together with liquid nails to form a "spider" like shape. You can see from the picture that I used office paper clamps to hold everything together while it dried. Once it was all dry, I just squeeze the divider together so that it fits into the bucket, then the pressure from it opening back up, suspended it against the sides of the bucket. It stays in place great while running, and is very easy to change out. This homemade machine, costing less than 40 dollars, does just as good of a job as my ballstar that I sold about a month ago.

Ian

Majic · Oct 17, 2009

:thumbup2:That looks pretty darn nice

atthecat · Oct 17, 2009

is it bad to have the balls touch when polishing? What happens?

ctyhntr · Oct 17, 2009

That depends on your point of view. For some, its a hairy situation, end up with contact spots when the balls bump against each other. Then you have to re-polish by hand.

atthecat said:
is it bad to have the balls touch when polishing? What happens?

DogsPlayingPool · Oct 17, 2009

I have a question. I notice most of these are made out of carpet material but I wouldn't think that is particularly soft. Especially the bed of the device, why not have the buffing cloth that normally goes on an orbital polisher rather than carpet?

atthecat · Oct 17, 2009

ctyhntr said:
That depends on your point of view. For some, its a hairy situation, end up with contact spots when the balls bump against each other. Then you have to re-polish by hand.

Ahhhhh. yes I do see these spots on my balls. I'll have to make the divider.
Thanks.

xianmacx · Oct 17, 2009

DogsPlayingPool said:
I have a question. I notice most of these are made out of carpet material but I wouldn't think that is particularly soft. Especially the bed of the device, why not have the buffing cloth that normally goes on an orbital polisher rather than carpet?

Its really not that "hard" it polishes real well and lasts a long time. Its what is used in the diamond ball polisher. at $4.58 a yard you cant beat it.

DogsPlayingPool · Oct 17, 2009

xianmacx said:
Its really not that "hard" it polishes real well and lasts a long time. Its what is used in the diamond ball polisher. at $4.58 a yard you cant beat it.

So it is not carpeting? What is this material called and where do you get it? Any links to the stuff online?

If that's what they use in the Diamond spinner, that's good enough for me.

Thanks.

cbi1000 · Oct 17, 2009

Ok, tell me where i can find how to build one of these, where do i get all the supplies. I'm in!

thanks for the post, looks great.

craig

SCCues · Oct 17, 2009

atthecat said:
is it bad to have the balls touch when polishing? What happens?

I don't think having the balls touch during polishing affects the polishing, after all they are designed to touch during play. I made a home made polisher with a single divider in the middle and I put 4 or 5 balls on each side and it works great.

I like your idea for the individual divider though and it took some good thinking to come up with this idea.

James

DogsPlayingPool · Oct 17, 2009

cbi1000 said:
Ok, tell me where i can find how to build one of these, where do i get all the supplies. I'm in!

thanks for the post, looks great.

craig

Craig,

Here's one thread on the idea, there may be others. Just do a search for "polishers".

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=71033&highlight=polisher

Here's another link with some step by step pics (scroll down the page):

http://www.nittanyleather.com/side_projects.htm

Or you can take your pick of these videos on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ball+polisher&search_type=&aq=f

Hope this helps you get started.

DogsPlayingPool · Oct 20, 2009

DogsPlayingPool said:
So it is not carpeting? What is this material called and where do you get it? Any links to the stuff online?

If that's what they use in the Diamond spinner, that's good enough for me.

Thanks.

Xianmacx / Anyone: Any information on this stuff? What's it called and where can I get it?

Thanks.

btoneill · Oct 20, 2009

I have one of the bucket polishers and also made one for the room I play out of. As long as you don't put in more than 8 balls at a time the balls are constantly rolling and no spots show up. If you fill it with 15 balls, then they don't roll around quite so well.

Brian

billiardshot · Oct 20, 2009

Look to need more stiffness between carpet?

Ky Boy · Oct 20, 2009

What are the length of your carpet strips before gluing them together???

Saves time....when there are no errors in your trial!! :wink:

Gary

xianmacx · Oct 21, 2009

DogsPlayingPool said:
Xianmacx / Anyone: Any information on this stuff? What's it called and where can I get it?

Thanks.

Sorry for the slow reply, I missed the bump yesterday. I just bought cheap commercial grade carpet from Home depot. Stiff enough to keep its shape, but soft enough to not damage the balls.

big_wave_dav · Oct 21, 2009

Very Good Idea

I've had my homemade polisher for about a year & I also had a problem with the balls bumping into each other & leaving marks that had to be hand polished out later. To fix this problem I took 2 pieces of cardboard & crossed them. This I wedged into the polisher to make 4 seperate compartments. Problem solved.

But your solution is a stroke of genius. It'll cut my polishing time in half due to twice as many compartments. I'm going to work on this tonight.

Thanks for a great idea. :smile:

Dave

xianmacx · Oct 21, 2009

billiardshot said:
Look to need more stiffness between carpet?

I took an roll of tape and pushed it down into the center of the "spider" to give it a little more stifness/support. works good.

xianmacx · Oct 21, 2009

Ky Boy said:
What are the length of your carpet strips before gluing them together???

Saves time....when there are no errors in your trial!! :wink:

Gary

Ill measure when I get home in a few hours.

xianmacx · Oct 21, 2009

big_wave_dav said:
I've had my homemade polisher for about a year & I also had a problem with the balls bumping into each other & leaving marks that had to be hand polished out later. To fix this problem I took 2 pieces of cardboard & crossed them. This I wedged into the polisher to make 4 seperate compartments. Problem solved.

But your solution is a stroke of genius. It'll cut my polishing time in half due to twice as many compartments. I'm going to work on this tonight.

Thanks for a great idea. :smile:

Dave

Thank you sir,

I was brainstorming for a few weeks on something very simple and effective, Can't believe it turned out so simple. One failed idea was getting a 2 inch thick piece of foam from the craft store, cutting out a circle, then cutting individual ball coves, then covering with carpet.

Updated homemade ball polisher - With dividers

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